Average power rating of opponents played: INDIANAPOLIS 19.3, JACKSONVILLE 20

SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

INDIANAPOLIS - Season Results

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Team Stats

Opp Stats

Date

Opponent

Score

SU

Line

ATS

Tot.

O/U

Rushing

Passing

TO

Rushing

Passing

TO

9/8/2013

OAKLAND

21-17

W

-11

L

44.5

U

26-127

18-23-147

0

33-171

19-29-201

2

9/15/2013

MIAMI

20-24

L

-1.5

L

43.5

O

26-133

25-43-315

1

27-101

23-34-297

1

9/22/2013

@ SAN FRANCISCO

27-7

W

10.5

W

45.5

U

39-179

18-27-157

0

23-115

13-27-139

2

9/29/2013

@ JACKSONVILLE

10/6/2013

SEATTLE

10/14/2013

@ SAN DIEGO

10/20/2013

DENVER

JACKSONVILLE - Season Results

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Team Stats

Opp Stats

Date

Opponent

Score

SU

Line

ATS

Tot.

O/U

Rushing

Passing

TO

Rushing

Passing

TO

9/8/2013

KANSAS CITY

2-28

L

3

L

43

U

23-71

19-41-107

2

28-120

21-34-171

0

9/15/2013

@ OAKLAND

9-19

L

3.5

L

41

U

19-34

25-38-214

0

34-226

15-24-114

1

9/22/2013

@ SEATTLE

17-45

L

19.5

L

39

O

24-51

18-38-214

3

36-156

21-29-323

2

9/29/2013

INDIANAPOLIS

10/6/2013

@ ST LOUIS

10/13/2013

@ DENVER

10/20/2013

SAN DIEGO

10/27/2013

*SAN FRANCISCO

KEY GAME INFORMATION

INDIANAPOLIS: The Colts continue their transition to man blocking in the running game. New offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton comes from Stanford, where he used a power running game between the tackles. They'll likely try to establish the running game more than they did last year under former OC Bruce Arians, when they were one of 11 teams to run on less than 40 percent of their plays. Vick Ballard will get the first crack in what should be a committee set-up. Delone Carter will likely take short yardage duties, while Donald Brown (not an ideal fit in this scheme) will rotate in on all three downs.
Hamilton kept last year's playbook, and he's obviously familiar with Andrew Luck from college. They want to take a lot of shots up the seam, and they do a nice job utilizing pick plays and setting up bubble screens. Reggie Wayne is an intermediate target and the No. 1 receiver, while slot man T.Y. Hilton will see more snaps and is capable of getting deep. Darrius Heyward-Bey replaces Donnie Avery as a deep threat. The tight ends play both ways, and Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener will often share the field. The Colts let Luck do his thing deep in opponent territory, though it is partly because they lack power in their offensive line. He's given the option to create with his legs.
Although they have the third-easiest NFL schedule, the Colts will still struggle on the defensive end. In 2012, they recovered a pathetic three fumbles all year, allowed 138 rushing YPG (4th-most in NFL) and surrendered 29.1 PPG on the road. With Dwight Freeney gone, OLB Robert Mathis (8 sacks) is the only player left with more than four sacks. But not all is hopeless, as MLB Jerrell Freeman (145 tackles, 5th in NFL) is a budding star, and Indy improved its secondary by signing CB Greg Toler and SS LaRon Landry.

JACKSONVILLE: The Jaguars will continue to utilize a zone-blocking scheme for their running game, which will be the bulk of what this offense does as they still search for any semblance of a passing threat. Maurice Jones-Drew will once again be asked to carry a heavy workload as long as he's healthy, primarily because they have so few options behind him. But new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch is expected to give more two-back looks, with Montell Owens doing some lead blocking and also lining up in some single-back sets. The wild card could be Denard Robinson, who will push Justin Forsett for change-of-pace duties.
They don't have a lot of options with this passing game, due simply to a lack of talent. Most likely they'll try to spread the field and get some quick catch-and-run opportunities as Fisch comes from a West Coast background. He'll put Blaine Gabbert on the move a little more, which should help the young QB, who's gun shy in the face of the rush. Cecil Shorts figures to get a boost in Fisch's offense, at least while Justin Blackmon serves his four-game suspension to start the season. Marcedes Lewis should be a more prominent part of the offense. The Jaguars were forced to throw in the red zone much more often after Jones-Drew got hurt last year, but their first choice is to force-feed Jones-Drew.
New defensive coordinator Bob Babich, the former Bears DC and LB coach, inherits a defense that logged the second-most minutes on the field because of a horrible offense. But the Jags recorded five fewer sacks than any other NFL team and failed to score a defensive touchdown for the third time in four seasons. This year's unit will look much different with at least four new starters signed via free agency -- DTs Roy Miller and Kyle Love, LB Geno Hayes and CB Alan Ball. MLB Paul Posluszny is still a tackling machine.

Perhaps viewed as a pass-first team last season, the Indianapolis Colts might be on their way to transitioning to a wholly different approach in 2013.

A power run game and dominant play up front lifted the Colts to an impressive victory last week, and that could prove to be a winning formula again Sunday against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.

Indianapolis (2-1) acquired running back Trent Richardson from Cleveland earlier in the week and wasted no time employing a style that many observers thought it wasn't capable of playing. Facing a big and physical San Francisco team, the Colts outplayed the 49ers in the trenches and wore them down en route to a 27-7 road victory Sunday.

Richardson scored a touchdown on his first carry and finished with 35 yards on 13 attempts, while starter Ahmad Bradshaw led the way with a season-high 95 yards and a score on 19 rushes.

Richardson could see a significantly bigger workload this week with Bradshaw having been ruled out due to a neck injury.

It was Bradshaw who keyed Indianapolis topping the 100-yard rushing mark in every week this season, including 179 against the 49ers. The Colts rank fourth in the NFL with 146.3 rushing yards per game.

"I think that was a definite step in the right direction," left tackle Anthony Castonzo said. "A lot of that has to do with the fact that we just have backs that are fun to block for."

The effective ground attack has certainly made things easier on Andrew Luck, who went 18 of 27 for a career-low 164 yards Sunday but ran for a score for the second time in three weeks. Luck threw for 4,374 yards as a rookie last season, when Indianapolis averaged 104.4 yards on the ground, but he's passed for fewer than 200 yards in two of the first three games -both wins.

Indianapolis was equally impressive on the defensive side of the ball, sacking the mobile Colin Kaepernick three times, intercepting him once and keeping him off the scoreboard. The Colts limited San Francisco to 254 yards.

"It was as complete a game as I think we've played since we've been here," coach Chuck Pagano said.

Indianapolis needs one more victory for its best start since winning its first 14 games in 2009, and its powerful ground attack should give it a good chance to achieve that this week.

Jacksonville (0-3) gave up 156 rushing yards in a 45-17 loss at Seattle on Sunday and has the worst run defense in the NFL at 167.7 allowed yards per game. The defeat was the franchise-worst eighth overall for the Jaguars, who have allowed 29.1 points per game while dropping 15 of 16.

"It's a pretty clear picture," coach Gus Bradley said. "But I don't want to say that in regards to saying, 'OK, we're three years away (from contending).' That's not how we think. We're just trying to get these guys to play at their highest level."

Bradley's team ranks last in the league in total offense with 230.3 yards a contest, though the Jaguars are hoping to benefit from the return of quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

He'll start for the first time since slicing open the back of his throwing hand in a season-opening loss to Kansas City. Gabbert went 18 of 31 for 209 yards and an interception before leaving with a shoulder injury in a 27-10 home loss to the Colts on Nov. 8, the teams' last meeting.

Cecil Shorts, who had a touchdown catch in both matchups with the Colts last season, has been one of Jacksonville's few effective offensive weapons this year. He has 16 receptions for 236 yards with Chad Henne under center the past two contests.

"We are a very young team and we are still learning," Shorts said. "We still have a lot of stuff to improve on and we'll hit it hard this week."

The Jaguars would like to get star running back Maurice Jones-Drew going, but he's averaging a career-low 2.6 yards per carry while battling an ankle injury.

Jones-Drew, though, has had success against the Colts, rushing for an average of 153.3 yards with two touchdowns in his last three meetings. He sat out last year's loss in Jacksonville due to a foot injury.

Indianapolis ranks 26th in the league against the run at 129.0 yards a game.

Luck wasn't at his best as the Colts and Jaguars split their two meetings last year, throwing for 540 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions while posting a 55.6 completion percentage and 77.3 rating.

Jaguars tight end Marcedes Lewis will make his season debut after missing the first three games with a calf injury, but receivers Stephen Burton (concussion) and Mike Brown (back) won't play and neither will safety Dwight Lowery (concussion).